Solid cam damage diagnosis help
If a customer told me a cam I sold them had .007” lobe taper...... I’d have them send it to me so I could measure it myself.
Quite a few years ago I sold a solid roller to someone for a SBM.
The motor had gotten freshened up and they wanted to try something else for a cam.
The car ended up being slower.
For some reason they decided to check the lift...... and it was short.
Way too short, even considering the 59* bank angle and .750” offset int rockers(W2 heads).
They pulled the rockers off one side and checked the lift at the pushrod....... it was off by a good amount from the spec..... like .025-.030.
I had them send it to me....... because I thought that was “impossible”.
I put it in my lathe to measure the lift. It was dead on.
After a few phone calls and some more checking we determined the base circle of the new cam was a little shorter than the old cam........ and the lifter link bars were touching the top of the lifter bosses, which didn’t allow the lifters to drop all the way down on the base circle of the cam.
They didn’t want to have to grind on the block of their freshly rebuilt motor to use this cam...... so they put the old one back in.
I’d have also thought that a SFT cam coming from one of the well established cam grinders was also “impossible”...... so I’d have wanted to see it for myself.
Sometimes...... strange **** happens.
“Duly noted” seems a lot like “we don’t care”.
Not defending Hughes (because this entire issue is indefensible) but the fact remains that you have two different entities involved here.
You have Hughes, who have no way to grind a cam and Howard’s, who are the subcontractor in the deal.
That’s an equation that gets you right into a pissing match when something goes backwards. Hughes didn’t grind it, so they don’t care. Howard’s didn’t sell it directly, so they don’t care. In total, neither one gives a single ****.
If Dave had ANY balls, he’d have the OP send the cam to him and he would have verified that it was incorrectly ground, and the HE would deal with HIS subcontractor. And he would make the OP whole, which never happens but at least he could have refunded his money for the junk cam and maybe some money for gaskets and such.
But none of that will never happen. There are things I’d buy from Hughes, but it would damn sure never be a cam.
And Dave gets away with this crap because people buy his marketing hype.
Until people wake up, he will continue to profit by not supporting his products when they have an issue.
I feel horrible for the OP and I hope some people who read this thread learn from the OP’s experience.
BTW...not too impressed with Howard’s. They have atleast one employee who either doesn’t give a crap or he shouldn’t be grinding cams. Or both.
